![]() Finally, we get to see Hayden Christensen as young Anakin in an elegantly staged training duel flashback with Obi-Wan. Not only does it provide more Vader badassery, but as more of Reva’s backstory and motivation are revealed, we recognize her as a more sympathetic and compelling figure. Even assuming that a trench coat would be on hand (for cosplay maybe?) it appears that Imperial officers have a pretty rigid facial hair code and Obi-Wan looks like Rip Van Winkle after a rough hypersleep.Įpisode 5 is an improvement, and maybe the best episode of the series. Then we get the now infamous scene in which Obi-Wan and Tala stride out of the stronghold with Leia stashed underneath a trench coat. Put it in, drown these mothers, and swim out of there!”Īlas, no such elegant payoff emerges from the earlier setup, which more or less sums up the series as a whole. He uses the Force to keep the plexiglass wall from imploding while being fired upon and all I could think was, “YOU HAVE A BREATHING APPARATUS WITH YOU. Unfortunately, the episode misses a beat when Obi-Wan is later trying to hold off a phalanx of stormtroopers and the ocean threatens to flood the corridor he’s in. Then he and the Jedi sympathizer Tala (Indira Varma) easily infiltrate a supposedly impregnable Imperial base, with Obi-Wan using a breathing apparatus to sneak in underwater. Among other issues, Obi-Wan is all but fine after suffering serious physical and psychological wounds at the hands of Vader at the end of the third episode. It was this episode that had some viewers wondering if the show was in trouble. Not only is episode 4 a lil’ Leia rescue mission just two episodes after the first one, but it is yet another “homage” to a previous Star Wars story, the rescue of Leia from the Death Star in A New Hope, already “reimagined” as the rescue of Rey (Daisy Ridley) from Starkiller Base in The Force Awakens. The show then delivered its first weak episode. The savagery of Vader’s fight with Obi-Wan, the intensity of his hate, and Obi-Wan’s complete lack of preparation for the encounter are moving and disturbing. The episode features a chilling appearance by Darth Vader that rivals even his classic Rogue One appearance. ![]() The third episode gave viewers a real belief that Disney had got this series right. More importantly, after spending way too much time on that insufferable sandball, Tatooine, in The Book of Boba Fett and The Mandalorian, Star Wars finally departs for a different hive of scum and villainy: the cool Blade-Runner-ish planet, Daiyu. ![]() ![]() The second episode, in which Obi-Wan searches for the kidnapped Leia, feels a tad rushed, but the action and VFX are engaging, and the Inquisitor Reva (Moses Ingram) makes for a sufficiently diabolical villain. There are other good bits in the first episode, including an exciting opening sequence in which Younglings escape the Emperor’s Jedi purge from Revenge of the Sith. Do we really need to see Obi-Wan at his blue-collar job three separate times to get a sense of his life in hiding 10 years after the events of the prequels? But viewers had patience with the setup because of the massively reassuring presence of Ewan McGregor (who is even better as the character in the series), as well as the introduction of that precocious future Hutt strangler, 10-year-old Leia Organa (Vivien Lyra Blair). The most recent fan remix to attain wider attention - even getting a write-up in Variety - is Kai Patterson’s compression of the show’s six episodes into a feature-length film of two and a half hours, which Patterson created to fix things “that were easily fixable in the script and in the edit.”ĭoes this new version indeed “fix” the show’s issues? Is it better? Is it yet another example of how the application of a little more common-sense storytelling and filmmaking could radically improve a flawed original? Obi-Wan Kenobi the series certainly had its problems, but if Disney had opted to go the movie route like Patterson’s edit did, does that make it a better Star Wars experience? Issues with the series This is why every Star Wars show and movie has been recut, rewritten, restaged, reconceptualized, and regurgitated by online fans - to make better quality Star Wars.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |